


Double Lunge

by NaughtyButWeiss (RWBYRemnants)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Child Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Football | Soccer, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 14:11:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11511051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RWBYRemnants/pseuds/NaughtyButWeiss
Summary: [mAU, soccer] Ruby Rose was the star of her junior high soccer team, so naturally she was snatched up for the high school team by their principal and the coach. However, this seems to interfere with the team captain's plans for that season. Weiss Schnee wants her gone and seems determined to make that happen... until Ruby witnesses something after school that could change things for both of them.





	Double Lunge

**Author's Note:**

> A fluffy, angsty little fic I wrote for [WHITE ROSE WEEK](https://white-rose-week.tumblr.com) [Day 6: Modern AU]. It was supposed to be a drabble but it got a little long haha. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy it!

“Who… or _what…_ is this?”

A little weak chuckle floated out of Ruby’s mouth as she was glared down at by the petite, delicately-featured blonde. Everyone else on the team was either doing the same, or looking between the two of them as if waiting for an explosion.

“U-um…”

“This is Ruby Rose,” Coach Goodwitch informed them with a bite in her words. “I’m sure you’re all aware that we don’t normally allow freshmen to join the Varsity team, but she was the shining star of Signal Junior High. Scored practically every goal her last season, and against stiff competition. That fact, plus her academic prowess, suggests she will make a fine addition to the Beacon Academy student body.”

“Not much of a body, though,” some chick wearing sunglasses muttered out the corner of her mouth. Ruby heard her; she wasn’t bothering to keep her voice down. A few others laughed, and the girl staring her down smirked slightly but did not deign to actually laugh aloud. It seemed _beneath_ her somehow.

“You will afford Miss Rose all the same respect due any other member of the Varsity team. Any ‘hazing’ or other ostracization will _not_ be tolerated.” Her eyes narrowed at the students, and they stopped laughing or otherwise talking out of turn. “Good. Now, run some drills.”

A short blast on her whistle sent everyone racing back and forth on the field. Ruby was used to the routine, so she tried to fall in step behind a tall redhead, but then got jerked backward by a hand.

“Excuse me.”

Whipping around, Ruby found the pretty girl to be staring at her. As similar as their heights were, they were almost nose-to-nose. Only this close did she notice the scar over her left eye; it was very faint, but seemed so _wrong_ on such an otherwise model-perfect face.

“What’s up?” Ruby said, trying for casual.

Her tone was scathing when she shot back, “What’s up? Oh, I don’t know. I’m only wondering what in the world you think you’re doing, that’s all.”

Swallowing hard, she tried her best to keep the smile in place. The way her dad taught her. “Um… I j-just want to play soccer. Isn’t that what you’re doing, too?”

“Not with the likes of you.” Her clear blue eyes swept up and down Ruby’s body, then pierced into her own. “Sit the bench.”

“But, uh, Coach just-”

“I don’t care. Coach might want us to give you a chance, but we have a huge first game this season. We can break in the fresh meat afterward. So just… dribble on the sidelines. Practice tackling, or juggling, or _drooling_ , or whatever you feel like doing. But stay out of my way.”

Finally, Ruby’s good mood was depleted enough that she frowned. “Hey, I can’t do that. I was told to do drills just like you are, and if I don’t-”

“You’ll be fine, right? Just fine. Do as your team captain says.”

“Team captain?” Her eyes widened a little. “Oh. _You’re_ the Snowstorm?”

That single word seemed to make the Snowstorm even angrier. Before, she had just been taking care of a problem, but the fury that replaced her previous annoyance eclipsed it so completely that Ruby actually shrank back out of a very real fear.

“Sit. Down. Right here.” When Ruby didn’t, she firmly gripped her shoulder. “Sit down or I’ll sit you down.”

Clenching her teeth, Ruby sank down to her haunches.

“Stay. Good girl.” Turning to leave, she glanced back down over her shoulder. “And once we’re through practicing formations and drills, maybe you can get up. We’ll see.”

And Ruby watched her go. Weiss Schnee, the Snowstorm. She’d been to only one of her games, but she was a force of nature; sloppy here and there, and she tended to hotdog a lot, but then again Ruby could be guilty of that herself sometimes. When a player scored as often as they did, a little hotdogging could be forgiven. If she was really honest, deep down, she had been hoping Weiss would be one of the teammates that she could have the most in common with because of their similar styles on the field.

“Nope,” she muttered under her breath, picking at a blade of grass.

It wasn’t for another eight minutes - Ruby was counting in her head, that’s how bored she was - that a girl with her long brown hair tied in a ponytail came over to crouch next to her. “How are you going?”

“Fine. I, um… Weiss benched me.”

“That’s no good; she’s not the coach. I’m Velvet.” They briefly shook hands. “Come on, I’ll practice with you a bit.”

“Are you sure? Won’t I get, like… burned at the stake?”

However, Velvet only laughed and helped her to her feet. Then they went to fetch a spare ball and started to pass back and forth.

* * *

 

Practice wore on, and both Velvet and the tall redhead, Pyrrha, seemed to be decent sorts who were friendly to a fault. Some of the other girls, like the dark-skinned one with long black hair and the sunglasses chick, continued to ignore her whenever possible - or worse, take cheap shots at her when she wasn’t looking. But at least they weren’t all like that.

It wasn’t until the very end of practice that Weiss seemed to notice that Ruby hadn’t obeyed her ‘orders’. Out of nowhere, just when she hadn’t been ready for it, a ball hurtled from off to her left and connected with her eye, sending her straight down to the dirt. Goodwitch hollered, but no one would specify who had kicked it; if some of the others noticed, they were too afraid to speak up. Including Velvet and Pyrrha, unfortunately.

So Ruby spent the last few minutes getting her eye iced instead of hearing the coach’s pep talk, and was the first into the locker room. Velvet offered her some words of sympathy, telling her to just ride out this period of adjustment and focus on the game itself, but Ruby could barely take any of it in. She felt _rejected_. Not that she would give up; oh no, she was made of stronger stuff than that. Her half-sister was the star of the basketball team, and she’d never let Ruby quit, anyway.

“Look at the whimpering little puppy.”

Suddenly, Ruby’s spine jolted straight when she realised Weiss and two of her cronies were standing over her. The same two she had expected, really. Trying for joviality, she smiled and shrugged, holding the ice pack in place. “Rough practice, huh?”

“Oh, yeah. And it’s going to get a _lot_ rougher.”

“What is your deal?” she finally snapped, unable to keep a lid on her own annoyance any longer. “I haven’t done anything to you!”

“You messed up my plans. You took a spot I was grooming for one of the other Junior Varsity players, you… you weird prodigy!” Hands on hips, she took a step forward and snapped, “I’ve been working on Pollendina for months, molding her into a well-oiled footballing machine, and you just stroll in, flaunt your precious brain and your precious Signal record, and you _thieve_ someone else’s hard-won place on _my_ team!”

“Yeah,” the raven-haired girl said in a monotone voice. “There’s nothing worse than someone who thinks they deserve what they haven’t earned. Pretty shitty of you.”

Spreading her arms wide, she squeaked, “But I didn’t do _any_ of that! I just played the best I could, and Principal Ozpin came to me himself and asked if I wanted to play with you guys! Like, how was I gonna say ‘no’?!”

“Could have thought of someone other than yourself,” sunglasses scoffed.

“Coco, I got this. Can you and Blake give me a moment?” They seemed to be all too ready to leave, heading off into the showers with their bags in tow. “You’re not going to make it here.”

“You can’t make that call this early. I mean, I haven’t even had a-”

“No, you misunderstand,” Weiss said with a sycophantic little titter. Then she leaned in and slammed her hands into the bench on either side of Ruby’s hips, leaning in close enough so that she could see her literally _trembling_ with rage. “I’m going to _make sure_ you never get off the bench. And if you do, I’ll make sure you never make it back to it.”

Ruby’s heart sank, and a chill ran down her spine. “Are… you threatening to kill me?”

That seemed to make her almost laugh at the absurdity. “You think I’m that much of a moron that I can’t think of a better solution than that? No, I don’t have to kill you. Just your career. Academic, athletic… either one. I tank you, and you’re off the team. It will be so easy…” Her finger lifted between their faces. “Stay out of my way. Stay off of the field. _Stay_.”

It took all of Ruby’s willpower not to look down and away. Yang had warned her about this. That she was going to face harsher challenges at Beacon if she enrolled, with it being so exclusive.

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not your dog,” she whispered. The words were trembling, and not nearly as badass as she had been hoping they would sound, but at least she was standing up to Weiss instead of staying perfectly still and hoping she would turn invisible. “I… I can’t help how I got on the team, but now that I’m here, I j-just want… I want to help us win. That’s all. I can’t… I’m n-not going to do a bad job and hurt our shot at state just because you hate me.”

“Hate you? Please.” She drew back and let out another harsh bark of laughter. “I’d have to care about you to hate you. All you are is an obstacle - and you know what a ‘storm’ does to obstacles, don’t you?”

The silence was tense. Ruby didn’t bother to ask, and Weiss didn’t bother to answer. Just walked off toward the showers.

* * *

 

Though she had talked a good game, and was proud of standing up for herself, the minute Weiss was out of sight Ruby felt all of her energy drain away. She just didn’t want to be there anymore. A call to her father just resulted in him telling her to stick with it and saying a bunch of would-be encouraging fatherly platitudes, and a text reply from Yang could be summarised with “Quit your bitching, she’s nobody and you’re a boss ass bitch.” So that was it. If she stayed, she would be hated. If she left, she would be a coward and disappoint her family. What a decision.

Her own shower made her the last one out of the locker room, and she was dragging as if she had run a thousand drills. She barely made it to the parking lot before she remembered: Yang had told her to catch the bus today. She had some date with a guy or whatever. Didn’t matter, it only meant she would have to go home, alone, on public transit. The perfect end to a perfect day.

“And this is the _best_ you can do?!”

Automatically, Ruby ducked her head when she heard the violent shout. The parking lot was almost empty of student vehicles, but there was one luxury sedan that didn’t seem to belong to anyone on a teacher’s salary a little ways away. And she could just see two heads over the top of it, both with the same platinum-blonde hair.

There was a response, but Ruby couldn’t make it out. She only heard the next shout, a man’s voice again. “You really think you have a shot at going Ivy League with grades like these? An actual _B?!_ This would be fine for a _state school,_ if you want to be a worthless little bitch on the arm of some internet mogul!”

“I’m sorry!” This time, Ruby had inched close enough to hear the distressed voice, trying to hunch her shoulders so she wouldn’t be seen or noticed. Whatever this was didn’t sound good and she wasn’t sure about getting involved. “The team has been-”

“The team, the _team!_ Waste of your precious time and resources! Practice with your vocal coach, or study for the PSATs! Those will advance you in life! Not this, this… inane pastime!”

“It’s not inane! You and I both know that extracurriculars-”

Maybe the air hadn’t been exactly calm before that moment, but the _SLAP_ that pierced it shattered whatever calm had been left. Every bone and muscle in Ruby’s body tensed up, and she held her hands out to either side. Ready to move, but not sure what to do.

“Don’t talk back to me!” the voice snarled. “And don’t tell me what I know, you pathetic- I raised you to be a Schnee! Not to be a… a shin guard-wearing DYKE!”

 _Schnee._ No way, it wasn’t possible. That reedy, subservient voice couldn’t belong to…

“Father, I- I w-won’t let you down again,” the voice said. No way was it Weiss’s voice. Couldn’t be her, couldn’t be the same person. This voice was too hollow, too numb. “I’m sorry.”

“See that you don’t.” There was a weary sigh, as if he had been doing nothing more than suffering through some boring appointment. “I’ll leave you to take your own car back to the manor. Don’t wreck another one or I’ll put an end to these soccer shenanigans of yours once and for all.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ruby darted away, hoping her backpack wasn’t jostling too much and making any noise as she hid behind a beat-up old Chrysler. Biting her lip, hoping against hope she was wrong, she watched as the other head of white hair disappeared inside the car, and it drove around her and away from the school to reveal…

Weiss. Wrapped in a pale blue dress that easily cost more than everything in Ruby’s closet combined. Digging in her thousand-dollar purse for keys to the sporty little BMW that she was walking toward on unsteady stiletto Louboutins. Dropping them to the ground… and stopping.

Completely stopping. Ruby waited for a few minutes, almost _willing_ her to pick up the keys and keep going to her car. To get in and ride away. At first, she thought she just wanted Weiss to go away so she could get on with her day and try to forget what she had accidentally witnessed. None of her business. This was between the Schnee family, right? Nothing for some freshman to get herself involved with.

But when Weiss had been standing there, shaking and staring down at her keys for nearly five minutes, she realised that wasn’t the real reason she was watching. She was waiting for her to drive away and _prove_ that she was alright. To relieve her conscience of this burden of caring. And she wasn’t.

She wasn’t alright.

Weiss still hadn’t moved when Ruby bent down to pick up the keys. Hearing them jingle, she started and took a step back, shock clear in her features beneath the red handprint.

“What are you doing?” Ruby didn’t answer. Weiss snatched the keys away. “Get out of my way.”

“Okay.”

Weiss made it all the way to her car door. Then she paused again, indecisive. Turning back, she finally asked, “What? Already back to being a good dog?”

“I don’t need to be in your way.” That was all Ruby said. Just offered it as an explanation. She was just standing there, watching Weiss carefully.

“What? What is it?” When she got no answer, Weiss threw the keys at her. “WHAT?!”

Ruby caught them pretty effortlessly, then blinked at her a few times. What could she say? If their places were reversed, she probably wouldn’t want anyone to know this interaction had ever occurred. So nothing sounded right in her head, and she kept her mouth shut, just staring at Weiss’s marked face.

When it dawned on her where the scar over her eye probably came from, she almost said something. Almost cursed Mr. Schnee for all she was worth… but she managed to hold her tongue.

Then Weiss seemed to realise that she needed those keys, because she strolled up to Ruby and reached for them. Ruby didn’t even try to stop her. “Shut up.”

“I wasn’t talking.”

“You were _going_ to talk!” Turning away, she shifted the keys a little - and she saw something that made her stop and look around frantically. “Oh no…”

“What happened?”

“Quiet, you.” But Ruby already saw that her thumb was running back and forth over a little crystalline keychain that had been snapped in half. While its owner was being frantic, Ruby’s eyes went straight back to the spot where Weiss dropped them before and looked around in a circle until she spotted it, then strode straight for the glinting piece.

“Hey, leave that alone!” Weiss snapped when she saw Ruby picking it up, racing over to her and snatching for it. “That’s not yours, you mutt!”

Shrugging, she asked, “A caterpillar, huh?”

“Shut up. Just… don’t. It’s none of your business.” She stared between the two pieces, one still attached to her keys and the other in the opposite hand. “Damn…”

“Maybe you can still fix it?”

“Probably not. It’s ruined.” The last word broke as she said it, as cleanly as the ornament had. But Weiss drew herself back together, nipping the other piece of her keychain into her purse. “Now. If you’re through lousing up my day, I think… I’m going home now.”

“Okay.”

A noise of sheer frustration burst from her throat. “Is that _all_ you have to say? Are you such a docile breed that you’re going to stand there and take this?! I’ve been- you IDIOT! How can you have no feelings about anything? You don’t care that you ruined my team, and you don’t care that you ruined my day, and y-you don’t care that I’m standing here, _screaming_ at you in the middle of the parking lot! Does anything actually go on behind those glassy grey eyes of yours, or are you literally a lobotomy patient?!”

At some point during that tirade, both of them had begun to cry. They both noticed, but it was Weiss who took a step back in shock; Ruby had been expecting this, but she clearly hadn’t. “What are _you_ crying for, you stupid mutt?!”

“I’m sorry,” Ruby offered. She wasn’t sure what she was sorry about, her crying or Weiss crying.

“No. Shut up. You- UGH! Stop being so- STOP!”

But of course, most people find it hard to stop crying once they’ve started. Ruby’s refusal to do the impossible sent Weiss over the edge, and she flew at her and began trying to punch her, in the face, the shoulders, the chest. Anywhere. Ruby protected her face pretty well, but she still winced when the keys sliced into her arm. Weiss’s sobs and screams were the same noise, and she hit and she hit until the hits got weaker, and then she was mostly leaning against her as she weakly slapped her arms with fists that had no fire left in them, sobbing as her words failed to make any sense at all.

As Ruby held her in a clinging embrace, she could just make out the words “I HATE YOU!” through the riot of bawling and coughing and wailing to the heavens. The fists were clutching her collar as she buried her face against Ruby’s neck, shivering and unable to stop for a long time.

When her sobs were finally sniffles and her body was still save for the shivering, Ruby pet up and down her back and whispered, “I’m sorry, Weiss. I’m so, so sorry…”

“But _why?!_ That’s s-so stupid! I told you I’d h-hurt you, that I would… and _you’re_ sorry?! What are you, Canadian?!” When Ruby chuckled, she shook her collar slightly. “And that wasn’t very funny, don’t give me any p-pity laughs!”

“You’d be pretty funny if you didn’t have that stick up your butt,” she observed with a watery grin against Weiss’s soft white hair.

“Idiot.” After a few more seconds, she whispered, “You saw. My face… is it bad?”

“No worse than mine. But at least we can both explain it by saying ‘soccer practice’, I guess. Only difference is that I’m telling the truth.” Ruby felt her entire body tense at the word ‘truth’, so she hurried on ahead, “Probably be gone by tomorrow, but, um… I dunno, I’m not a nurse or whatever.”

“Great.” A hollowness had crept into Weiss’s tone. Probably thinking about her father. All Ruby could think of was her own, and how much kinder and gentler he was, all the time. Made stupid dad jokes, sure, but it was worlds better than what Weiss was dealing with.

“I’ll ruin you even worse if you tell anybody. You have to swear you won’t; I don’t know who you-”

“Shut up already, God! Just… chill out for now.”

A little nod against her neck. Then the captain whispered, “Sorry about… the black eye. And hitting you just now; that was unbecoming of me. But I won’t apologise for being pissed at you for taking Penny’s spot. It’s not right. She earned that, and you swooped-”

“I didn’t. Seriously, Ozpin and Goodwitch must have thought I was the best pick… I just play the game. But I guess… if they didn’t talk to you girls about it, that’s not cool. You’re a team, not freaking interchangeable Legos. So, um, if you want… I could talk to them about making that right with you?”

“You’d do that? Even if it meant like, getting yourself bumped down to JV?”

“Sure. I mean, I don’t want to be on a team if I don’t deserve it; that’s dumb. Rather just play matches on JV than deal with internal politics and junk.”

Weiss sighed, leaning into her. By that point, Ruby began to wonder how long she was going to have to keep hugging this crabby team captain, but Weiss seemed to need it right about then so she didn’t protest. Besides, it was way better than being slapped and punched. “Interchangeable Legos, huh?”

“Yeah. Why, you don’t like Legos?”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“WHAT?! How can you not know about Legos? They’re awesome — you can make anything with them, like, literally! Though they’re kinda expensive now, and they put too much focus on fandom-specific merch…”

“What are you even saying right now?” Sniffling, she pulled back at last, but she didn’t pull away. Her head tilted to one side, and Ruby knew the red mess of Weiss’s puffy face was probably still better than her own. “I… I can’t believe how nice you’re being to me after how I acted. You’re either the nicest person I’ve ever met, or a real dope.”

“Probably a little of both,” she sighed with a roll of her eyes. “My sister seems to think so.”

“Older?” When Ruby nodded, Weiss’s sigh was very similar. The caress of breath against her neck reminded her that they were standing so close, so she took a step back, trying not to let Weiss see the slight shiver it caused. “I know how that goes. But sometimes they’re better than a best friend.”

“Ditto that.” Making a guess as she led Weiss over toward her car, arm still around her shoulders, she asked, “Was that keychain from her?”

Weiss stopped dead, gaping at her in disbelief. “How could you _possibly_ know…?” But she stopped when she saw Ruby’s playful little smirk.

“Maybe I’m not _that_ much of a dopey mutt.” For the first time, Weiss’s smile wasn’t at her expense, and Ruby was actually almost _enjoying_ standing there with her arm around her. But she had a feeling Weiss would overreact when she realised they were close, so she kept walking as she asked, “Kinda racist, too, don’t you think? Calling me that.”

“Oh, don’t be dumb - I meant ‘mutt’ like how you act like a dog, not that you’re… what, Chinese and European?” When Ruby blinked at her, she smirked. _“Now_ who’s the astute one?”

Giggling, she took Weiss’s keys and opened the door. The captain looked distantly embarrassed at being ‘taken care of’ by someone she had thought was as worthy of respect as a toilet less than an hour ago, but she didn’t protest. “Okay, you get a point. We’re even now, right?”

“No. Not until you let me buy you dinner. Um… both to bribe you not to say anything, and… to…”

“Thank me?” Weiss’s grunt of frustration was affirmation enough. “I’m not sure I can promise not to say anything to _anyone…_ but not to anyone at school. Pinky swear if you want.”

A little fear flickered behind Weiss’s eyes. Clearly, she was worried about what might happen if Ruby decided what she had witnessed needed to be _reported._ But instead of acknowledging it, she snapped, “Fine. Good enough for now. Get in, unless you have plans somewhere.”

“Nope! No other plans, new bestie.”

The minute she was in the passenger’s seat, a well-manicured index finger was hovering in her face. “Let’s get something straight. By _no means_ does this make us friends, Rose.”

Of course, Ruby disagreed. But instead of arguing, she merely raised her hand. Weiss flinched, and she could understand why, but she only pressed the tip of her own pointer finger into the raised one.

“Boop!”

“You are _so_ childish.”

THE END


End file.
